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Wednesday, May 25, 2016

The Rube Goldberg Machine - Fragile Times

Since my appreciation of the Bad Elephant Music label goes
back in 2015 when I bought Trojan Horse’s World
Turned Upside Down on Wayside Music, I’ve always wanted to discover what
the label has sparkled more of the music in my eardrums. And the sparkle has
come to light with an amazing up-and-coming band from England called The Rube
Goldberg Machine. This is the band’s debut on the label this year entitled, Fragile Times. This is perhaps for me, another
mind-blowing futuristic debut I’ve discovered. And with lyrical boundaries
showing the essence of the darker subjects with taking from the involvement of
Daniel Bowels, here they prove that it’s more than just Prog.

I remember hearing their music on one of my favorite
podcasts I would listen to that I’ve mentioned called, Sid Smith’s Podcasts
from the Yellow Room. Sid would always make my ears enjoy the music he would
play on the episodes he would pick. Whether it’s the sounds of Canterbury, Jazz
Rock, Avant-Garde, and Progressive Music. But from the moment I’ve heard The
Rube Goldberg Machine on his podcast and he even wrote the liner notes for this
album, I knew I had to buy this album. So I went ahead and bought the album on
the Kinesis website along with Maglev’s Overwrite
the Sin.

And from the moment I put on the Rube Goldberg Machine’s
debut album on my portable CD player, I could feel that the trio are following
in the footsteps of Steven Wilson and knowing that they are going to do just
fine. There aren’t any auto-tuning, no pro-tools, and no digital enhancements,
this is band playing real and sounding fresh right from the get-go and showing
how real good music is supposed to sound. And it sounds perfect from start to
finish. And with five enduring centerpieces, you might want to take notes on.

Opener, Background Noise
deals with how the deals of fame from the digital ages from sites like a
YouTube sensation, can come with a heavy price and knowing that you’re
15-minutes of fame with the obsession of the computer screen, social media, and
texting is like being the butt of jokes. The lyrics themselves are spot on as
the music carries an orchestral and ominous overtone thanks to the Alex
Lifeson-sque guitars bringing forth the dark lullabies and the essence of Tool
comes to mind.

The waltzy 3/4 time signature of Little Funerals has a clapping yet catchy acoustic alternative
folk-rock flavor while the title track deals with the dystopian fear of a
division with a political weapon and rising tides of a distant race and not
letting the front line draw thin. Times
Square starts off with a touch between the styles of Slash from the Appetite for Destruction-era and Rush’s Moving Pictures-era.

The guitars are going into the areas between lead and riff
eruptions before the drums and bass in the midsection go into a Geddy Lee and
Neil Peart approach with the different time changes coming at you in a quick
second with the Swing-Jazz Metal touch with an unexpected twist. There’s more
of the alternative rock sound of a journey that’s about to begin with a
climbing melody.

According to the song behind The Captain’s Blackjack, the tradition of NASA before sending a
ship up to outer space, the Captain plays this game with the tech crew until he
or she loses a hand, then the mission can begin. It’s a great catchy song that
we are inside the Captain’s mind of he will win the game of cards before
heading towards his ship.

The closing track, Afraid of my own Shadow sees the band head towards a reminiscent of Agitation Free’s
Haunted Island from the band’s 2nd
album, and Ash Ra Tempel. It has a heavier and melodic side as the lyrics deal of being your own
worst enemy and depression with a suicidal approach of the shadow taunting your
every move. Spacey guitars from the reminiscent of Manuel Gottsching and Fripp-sque lines come into place, they bring in
the switch of no sign of peace.

Fragile Times is a
promising debut and it can take a few listens to sink into. Here, The Rube
Goldberg Machine proves that they delivered the heavier themes, and it’s a well
job done of an accomplishment and for the label, Bad Elephant Music.

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About Me

I'm a blogger/freelance writer from Houston, TX who writes album reviews because I enjoy it. Even though, I'm not the best writer, there is no stop sign for me. I have a love of Progressive Rock music, Jazz Fusion, and Early Heavy Metal music from the '60s to the early '80s. I went to HCC (Houston Community College) for nine years and have completed my degree in Music in Performance: Jazz Studies. I've been writing Progressive Rock and Symphonic Metal reviews starting back in 2008 on my blogsite and it never gets old.